Why For Sale By Owners get less for their homes
- Everyone is trying to save the same commission
Buyers know the seller is not paying a commission, so they make a lower offer thinking they can save the commission on their purchase price.
- FSBOs attract bargain hunters and speculators
Many opportunists believe—rightly or wrongly—that For Sale By Owners are uninformed about the marketplace. Since you don’t have representation, they believe they have a better chance of slipping a lowball offer past you than through an agent working for a homeowner whose property is listed.
- Buyers, unsure of property values, will offer less
Since most buyers are represented by an agent, they will likely never see your home. That leaves those who are not represented. With no agent to advise them on what constitutes a fair offer for your property, they are likely to throw out a lower offer to “leave room for negotiations.”
- FSBOs have less exposure to potential buyers
At any given time your FSBO is competing with more than 2000+ properties listed with Realtors on the Ottawa Real Estate Board. The real estate industry does an excellent job of advertising and marketing these listings to potential buyers and there are more than 3200 real estate professionals in the Ottawa Area alone! All of this means is that most serious buyers are quickly scooped up by real estate professionals. What’s left behind are largely buyer prospects who are uninformed, hard to please, and those looking for an unrealistically good deal, all of which normally result in lower offers on your property.
- Tough negotiators seek out FSBOs
People who believe they are tough negotiators like to make offers on FSBOs because they think they’ll have an upper hand dealing with an “amateur.” These individuals usually avoid a Realtor to represent them in their home purchase as they think they will have an upper hand without one.
